When a former Patriots linebacker learned that a tractor-trailer had crashed into a Boston tunnel, he decided to go to the tape.
Matt Chatham, a linebacker who was on the Patriots' first three Super Bowl champion teams, tweeted his "video breakdown" of the crash in the Tip O'Neill Tunnel.
"The truck driver himself, tremendously poor situational awareness. You have a vehicle of a certain height, a tunnel of a shorter height, you're gonna plow into it, you're gonna ruin the day for all the people behind you," Chatham said, drawing up plays over the footage of the crash. "Gotta have better situational awareness. This is a little bit like having 15 men on the field, not just 12. It's like jumping offsides when the offense is backed up. You can't have it. You're screwing everyone else around you."
Massachusetts State Police cited that driver, a 59-year-old whose name has not been released, for driving an overheight and overwidth truck.
Chatham looked at how the first cars handled the jam, maneuvering around the tractor-trailer.
"I'm gonna call this really good crisis driving," he said of the first vehicle to pass the truck. "You got debris falling off. You got smoke. There's really an opportunity here for this driver to do something crazy — to swerve, to veer, to not handle the situation well, but he doesn't tense up, he does the right thing, stays the course, trusts the process, drives through to the other side."
The ex-linebacker said the third car to pass was "the star of the show."
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"He's got a decision to make," Chatham said. "Is he gonna free up his day? Is he gonna get to the other side? Is he gonna be on the right side of history? Or is he gonna be back here with all the other schmucks? Now, he's gotta make the right move here. This is sort of the gotta have it situation. Are you gonna punt on fourth down, or are you gonna make the move in the big spot? Now this guy, he makes the move in the big spot. He's on the right side of history. He's not back here with all the other fools for the next three to four hours. Nice job, bud. It was your day."
The crash caused backups all around the city, with delays of up to two hours being reported on Interstate 93.
